Ehra-Lessien

Ehra-Lessien
Municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Ehra-Lessien within Gifhorn district
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Gifhorn
Municipal assoc.	Brome
Subdivisions	2 Ortsteile
Government
• Mayor	Jenny Reissig (SPD)
Area
• Total	56.08 km2 (21.65 sq mi)
Elevation	63 m (207 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)
• Total	2,104
• Density	38/km2 (97/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	38468
Dialling codes	05377
Vehicle registration	GF
Website	www.ehra-lessien.de

Ehra-Lessien is a municipality in the district of Gifhorn, in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Volkswagen Group test track

Volkswagen Group owns a test track facility in Ehra-Lessien. Built during the Cold War, the location was chosen as, at the time, it was in a no-fly zone near the East German border, safe from prying eyes seeing secret prototypes.

The track is used by all Volkswagen Group subsidiaries and marques, such as Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, SEAT, Skoda, as well as Porsche, which is now part of the VW Group.

The facility features 96 km (60 miles) of private tarmac, which includes a large variety of road surfaces and curves, used as test tracks to evaluate new and prototype vehicles. More significantly, there is a high speed circuit with a straight approximately 9 km (5.6 mi) long. Although this portion of the track is flat and level, when standing at one end of the straight, the other end cannot be seen due to the curvature of the Earth. Including banked corners at both ends of the circuit, allowing for a high entry and exit speed to and from the straight, and to increase average speed during the 20 km (12 mi) lap, the straight is especially useful for determining vehicle top speed.

Notably, the top speed of the Bugatti Veyron and the McLaren F1 were recorded along this straight. In an episode aired on 4 February 2007 on BBC Two's Top Gear, presenter James May reached 407.9 km/h (253.5 mph) in a Bugatti Veyron. In July 2010 a Bugatti Super Sport with 1,200 bhp (890 kW) recorded the production car world speed record at an average of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph). The facility also appeared on National Geographic Channel's Man-Made, in an episode about the Bugatti Veyron.